European Parliament

The European Parliament is the world’s largest multinational parliament. It has 751 elected members who are grouped by political affiliation. Currently, there are seven political groups and some non-attached members in the Parliament. Finland is represented by 13 members belonging to seven political groups.

As in other parliaments, the powers of the European Parliament can be divided into three main elements: legislative powers, budgetary powers and supervisory powers over the executive. In the ordinary legislative procedure (= codesicion), the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers jointly adopt the Commission’ legislative proposals. However, all laws require the Parliament’s final approval before entering into force. Under the Lisbon Treaty, the ordinary legislative procedure has been expanded to also cover agricultural policy.